Passing The Torch
by mitzirocker
Summary: The King of Games has reigned for years, and now he must pass the torch. Post-canon. Non-yaoi. Oneshot.


I got the idea for this opon learning that the literal translation of Yu-Gi-Oh was 'King of Games'. From that idea grew this oneshot. Enjoy!

Story Notes: Takes place a few months after the finale of 5Ds, which I judge to be long enough after the end of GX for Judai to still be kicking around, but be really old.

Disclaimer: GX and 5Ds belong to people who are more awesome and better at drawing than me.

Passing The Torch

_Could you leave all you know behind to pay the world your duty?_

_Could you walk the path of darkness yet still turn back to the light?_

_Could you give the power up at the end of your reign?_

-0-0-0-

"Hello, Mr Yuki."

Honda Hanako pushed open the door and entered an incredibly messy bedroom. The sheets were strewn all over the place, there were several scribblings on the desk and the old plasma TV screen seemed permanently out of tune. Letters and email from friends were tacked up on one wall.

The room's occupant wasn't much better. Yuki Judai had never been tidy, but in his old age it seemed he deliberately went out to be as dirty as possible. His hair was all mussed up, and he wore a blazer that had lost its colour before he had come to the home. A small brown tabby cat, youngest in a long line of small brown tabby cats, sat on the windowsill. It glared at her as she approached, before tapping Judai – she had no idea why she thought of him as that, but she did – on the shoulder.

He swivelled round to face her. He was smiling. This was good. Since Marufuji Asuka had passed away, he hadn't smiled much.

"Good to see you, Hanako." He stared at her tray. "Is that…"

"It's lavender tea. Just the way you like it." She put the tray down on the windowsill.

"Thanks." He got up out of his chair. "I'm sure I've got another cup somewhere…"

"It's okay, really…" He would hurt himself, digging through the mess.

"No, I insist. Ah-ha!" He whipped a cup that looked like it hadn't been used or washed since Hanako had started working with him. He blew out dust, and placed it on the tray. Hanako brought the desk chair over, and Judai poured for both of them.

They drank in silence for a moment. The cat climbed onto Judai's lap, and she cast her eyes around. They landed on a photo of him in his twenties, surrounded by his friends. He saw her look.

"I was just wondering about them." The best way to keep Judai happy was to talk about his past. Hanako knew the names, faces, histories and fates of everyone in that portrait, but Judai never tired of telling it, and she never tired of hearing it.

"There's Shou with Asuka. They'd just started dating then. There's Kenzan, I think he became a major a few weeks after this picture was taken." He scratched the back of the cat's neck. "Or captain, or something. I was never very good at military terminology. Little Rei, I never knew what happened to her. She probably took up spelunking. Manjoume, he'd just become head of Industrial Illusions. Ryo, this outing was to celebrate him getting a successful heart operation. There's Pharaoh. He was the great, great…" He counted on his fingers. "Great, great… Ah, screw it, the ancestor of Scissors here." Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," called Hanako. A receptionist on work experience whose name she didn't remember pushed open the door. He cleared his throat before speaking.

"There's a Mr Fudo at the door. He says he wants to…" Hanako made zip-it signs. Either the boy didn't notice her, or didn't have the sense to stop. "Duel you."

Instantly all of Judai's good humour vanished. His smile fell, and his body went rigid. Scissors leapt off his lap and onto the futon. Hanako glared at the boy. She opened her mouth to tell him to send this Fudo person away, but Judai stopped her.

"Send him in." He had already meandered over to the desk, and was pulling his deck out of a drawer. Hanako walked out of the room, and marched down the hallway to have a chat with the boy.

She found him turning off the holo that was used to communicate between floors. Before he'd even finished, she grabbed him by the coat and dragged him into a small passageway.

"What do you think you're doing?" she hissed at him.

"I just sent Mr Fudo up to duel Mr Yuki. What did I do wrong?"

She sighed. "I guess you haven't been here long enough. You do not even mention Duel Monsters around Mr Yuki. You do not talk to him about his duels, and if someone asks to duel him, you send them away."

"Why?"

"From what I gather, every single bad memory he has relates to Duel Monsters. He may be King of Games, but he sure as heck doesn't like it. Get downstairs and clean something." The boy ran. Hanako went to check on Judai.

He was deeply engrossed in a card game on the desk with a young man who looked a little like Manjoume. They seemed to be a couple of turns in. So the boy hadn't let an easy in. But here came Judai's first trump card.

"I play The Warrior Returning Alive." The card allowed him to summon a warrior monster to the field. It was one of his more powerful cards, and seemed set to make piecemeal of Fudo's defense.

Fudo played a combo that allowed him to kill the warrior and deplete Judai's LP as well. Hanako gulped. The further on the player got, the more depressed Judai was after they left. But there was still the second trump card.

"I play Change of Heart." He took over Fudo's Stardust Dragon, and gave it a spell that boosted its attack. _Now he'll win for sure_, thought Hanako.

Fudo played a counter spell that brought Stardust back onto his side, but it still had the boost. Only one person had got this far before. After he had defeated Jack Atlas, Judai had fallen into a funk that had taken him months to come out of.

Judai had the one trump left, Hanako knew, and she hoped he played it soon. The sooner he did, the sooner he smiled again.

"I play Retirement." Stardust Dragon was sent to the graveyard. A quick glance at Fudo's cards revealed that he had not one but two cards that could resurrect it. She waited for him to play it.

He didn't. Instead another monster took a back route and attacked Judai's LP directly. He had lost, and who knew how long it would take for him to smile again, if he ever did at all? Hanako would have killed Fudo right there and then…

If Judai hadn't smiled warmly, and shook his opponent's hand. _I don't believe it. All this time, all these duels, and he_ wanted _to lose?_

"Gotcha." He chuckled. "That was fun." For a moment, Hanako thought she saw black, white and gold sparks around the two men's clasped hands.

She blinked, and they were gone.

Fudo gathered up his cards and made for the door. "Bye, Yusei," said Judai suddenly. "King of Games."

Fudo held up his hand in an almost-wave, before walking out and shutting the door. Judai laughed. Hanako had never heard him laugh before.

_Thank you, Fudo Yusei. _Judai took an Elemental Hero from the top of his deck. "Want to hear how I got this one?"

-0-0-0-

_I would leave and risk my life to carry out my duty._

_I would take the darkness' power and bring it back to the light._

_I would pass my power on when my game finished._

-End-

R&R!


End file.
